Who is the real Valentine ?

Who is the real Valentine ?

- Some legends go back to erotic festivals in ancient Rome that happened to take place during February. Women would dress up as wolves and wait to be whipped by men wearing loin cloths.

Today in Italy and Greece, young men still chase young women while brandishing whips - made of plastic. The Lupercalia (February 15), was a fertility festival until 495 A.D., when a pope put a stop to it.

- Another story says that Valentinus was a priest in third-century Rome who secretly married couples, although the Emperor had forbidden it.

- According to an other legend, Valentinus was a Christian imprisoned for refusing to worship pagan gods. Supposedly he cured his jailer's blind daughter through prayers. On February 14, the day of his execution, he sent her a note, signed "Your Valentine."

- Or perhaps he was the Bishop of Terni, born around 268 A.D., who was executed through decapitation for his Christian beliefs. He was said to present lovers with flowers.

Whatever the reasons may be, Valentine was canonized in Middle Ages, and ever since that time he has been all lovers' protector.

Valentine : the friend of lovers

According to church tradition St. Valentine was a priest near Rome in about the year 270 A.D. At that time the Roman Emperor Claudius-II who had issued an edict forbidding marriage.

This was around when the heyday of Roman empire had almost come to an end. Lack of quality administrators led to frequent civil strife. Learning declined, taxation increased, and trade slumped to a low, precarious level. And the Gauls, Slavs, Huns, Turks and Mongolians from Northern Europe and Asian increased their pressure on the empire's boundaries. The empire was grown too large to be shielded from external aggression and internal chaos with existing forces. Thus more of capable men were required to be recruited as soldiers and officers. When Claudius became the emperor, he felt that married men were more emotionally attached to their families, and thus, will not make good soldiers. So to assure quality soldiers, he banned marriage.
Valentine, a bishop , seeing the trauma of young lovers, met them in a secret place, and joined them in the sacrament of matrimony. Claudius learned of this "friend of lovers," and had him arrested. The emperor, impressed with the young priest's dignity and conviction, attempted to convert him to the roman gods, to save him from certain execution. Valentine refused to recognize Roman Gods and even attempted to convert the emperor, knowing the consequences fully.

On February 24, 270, Valentine was executed.

"From your Valentine"

While Valentine was in prison awaiting his fate, he came in contact with his jailor, Asterius. The jailor had a blind daughter. Asterius requested him to heal his daughter. Through his faith he miraculously restored the sight of Asterius' daughter. Just before his execution, he asked for a pen and paper from his jailor, and signed a farewell message to her "From Your Valentine," a phrase that lived ever after.

Valentine thus become a Patron Saint, and spiritual overseer of an annual festival. The festival involved young Romans offering women they admired, and wished to court, handwritten greetings of affection on February 14. The greeting cards acquired St.Valentine's name.

The Valentine's Day card spread with Christianity, and is now celebrated all over the world. One of the earliest card was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London. The card is now preserved in the British Museum.

Valentine : Bishop and martyr

There is another Valentine, bishop of Terni in Umbria (Italy) which is often confused with the one which lived under the reign of the emperor Claude II. He is generally regarded as the patron of love because its festival corresponds symbolically to the period when the nesting begins for the birds. The tradition introduces this Valentine as a miracle doer. He made a miracle who made him famous and known as a Christian and the prefect of Rome had him killed because he had put its capacities of priest and its talents of doctor at the service of the Christians who were captive for their faith. It is mentioned that it is a confusion between various legends of the Middle Ages which made him become the patron of lovers.

The Valentine of the 5th century

As for the Valentine of Rhetie (Germany), his legend also results from a contamination with its fictitious real or false homonyms. In Germany where one celebrates Valentine of Rhetie who lived in the 5th century, he is represented with an epileptic child to his feet. Indeed, this saint is prayed for the cure of epilepsy. According to certain historians, at least seven fore-mentioned Christian saints Valentine would be celebrated on February 14. But it remains difficult to know with certainty which one is to be the real patron saint.

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